Not sure I totally agree with what former Oregon coach Mike Bellotti said Thursday. He believes that Oregon fans and critics need to cut Ducks coach Mark Helfrich a break when it comes to the results after his first season.

I'm not calling for Helfrich's head, or even some increased heat, but I'd like to see Oregon recapture its edge and forge a stronger identity under the new guy.

"Mark is very intelligent guy, very different than Chip personality-wise, but extremely intelligent and I think a very good recruiter," Bellotti said. "Time will tell. This is a very difficult thing. I told Mark the other day, I just saw him two days ago, and said, 'You did a good job.

"11-2, if people are not happy with that then they're really, they're not really all here. Certainly, could the Ducks have played better at times? Yes. But did they play unbelievable at times to win games? Yes."

Agree with Bellotti. 11-2 is good. Helfrich did a good job. But he was one puzzling and flat loss vs. Arizona away from a Bowl Championship Game and a 12-1 season that would have been great by any standards, not just a first-year coach.

Bellotti talked at length in a wide-ranging interview on the radio show (12-3p on 750-AM), touching on subjects ranging from the NFL success of former Ducks players such as Kiko Alonso, Jairus Byrd and T.J. Ward to whether or not Bellotti would have stepped down after the 2008 season ended with a Holiday Bowl victory had he not felt the football program was in competent hands.

"I thought Chip was a special coach, and I also knew we had a staff intact that could support him," Bellotti said.

Fair point, but also, Kelly is a brilliant offensive mind. I think he'd have had success wherever he went. The stability at Oregon, especially from the staff, did allow Kelly to focus on the offense.

Bellotti said quarterback Marcus Mariota's injury last season, largely unexplained by the coaching staff, led to some confusion and disappointment when Oregon faded down the stretch with those losses to Stanford and Arizona.

We could all plainly see in one series vs. the Cardinal that Mariota didn't have his legs, and that Helfrich wasn't going to put him in a bad spot. The Ducks essentially played that game with one arm tied behind their backs, and despite the final score, never felt that close.

"Marcus Mariota is such a great athlete. We take so many things for granted. When he's not playing well, when he's injured and we don't know it, we're looking at that and saying, 'Why is that happening?' But 11-2 and a bowl victory over Texas, no matter what Texas was at this point in time, that's still a huge, huge season.

"A lot of people think when you take over from within, it's just status quo, but a lot of times it's harder because when you have things you want to implement because the people who are there have been there."

Bellotti transitioned from offensive coordinator Andy Ludwig to Gary Crowton before finding Kelly at New Hampshire. Bellotti said Ludwig resisted the implementation of the spread-option offense, and that Crowton wasn't either comfortable with it, although he tried.

"I forced that on Gary," Bellotti said. "... we learned it together to a great degree. That first year it was like braille. We figured out at halftime what we were supposed to be doing.

"When Chip came, Chip had already run that offense. Chip was the guy I'd been looking for because he knew it. He could answer questions I had of him... I was comfortable giving him the autonomy, and the authority."

Where's the bar for Helfrich next season? I don't even want to talk record. I want to talk identity. I want edge. I want a team that has a personality, maybe even one that is feared. The Kelly-led Ducks went for it, surprised, shocked, kept coaches up at night and made fans afraid to use the restroom during offensive series for fear they'd miss something.